Birders,
This evening I was in the neighborhood, so I drove through Neal Smith
NWR in hopes of showing my kids some of the megafauna, and just *maybe* a
Short-eared Owl (the latter incredibly unlikely considering their young age).
We had good looks at elk and deer, then headed to the SW portion of the
refuge in search of owls. I did see one owl flying to the south of the road,
alas too far out for any of the teenies on board to see. But just a bit further
down the road, straight ahead a ways, I spotted one sitting on a white and blue
refuge sign! I got excited and turned the minivan off, unbuckled and quickly
climbed to the back, dug my scope and tripod out from under the stroller, set
it up between the middle seats, and unbuckled some kiddos. Guess what, neither
of them would cooperate and look in the scope! Mind you, we HAD been talking
up the owls and they were pretty excited about looking for one, and It's not
like this was the first time we have looked through the scope either. Sheesh!
I figured this was such a unique chance to actually show them a SEOW and nope,
they weren't going to look take a gander. Such is life with a 2 and 3.5 year
old. :-P
After a few minutes, the owl headed about its business, flying away to
the east. Excited but slightly miffed (commonplace in Daddyville), I got
everyone buckled back in and headed that way, assuming we were done. About 30
seconds down the road, down a small hill, there it was...........on a road
sign, allowing us to pull right up next to it!!! Kids of 1,2 and 3 all got to
see a Short-eared Owl! Or as they say, a "Shorty Owl". Pure joy for all,
especially Daddy. :-D Being a birding dad sure is awesome...
Bird On...
matt
Matthew T. Wetrich
Nikon Birding ProStaff
Naturalist, Carroll CCB
(712) 210-4614
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